Would you turn to 2 Kings chapter
3, or chapter 2, I'm sorry. And this is the end of Elijah. We're going to start looking
at the life of Elijah and look in verse 11 of 2 Kings chapter
2. And it came to pass, as they
still went on and talked, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire,
and horses of fire. And parted them both asunder,
and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it. And he cried, my father, my father,
the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw
him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes
and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of
Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank
of Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him. and smote the waters and said,
where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten
the waters, they parted hither and thither and Elisha went over. Let's party. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come into your presence in Christ's name. And Lord, we want to ask the same question
Elijah did, only with faith, knowing where you are. But we
ask that we might see your power and presence. And we say, where
is the Lord God of Elijah? Lord, we ask that you might work
in our midst. We ask that we might be enabled
to see who we are, who we are in your son and who he is. We ask that we might be enabled
to worship him. Lord, we ask that you would forgive
us of our many, many sins and cleanse us anew in the blood
of thy son. Lord, we ask that our steps might
be ordered in your word and that no iniquity would have dominion
over us. We ask that you would give us
grace to glorify and honor your blessed son and your gospel. Lord, we pray for our nation
that you would give our leaders wisdom, order their steps. We're
so thankful that they're in your hands and that your will is always
done. Lord, how we thank you for your
glorious person. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now Elijah is generally considered
the greatest of the prophets. I love thinking about that. We
just read about how he never saw death. Do I understand that? No, not remotely. Do I believe it? With all my
heart. He never saw death. The chariots
came, picked him up, and he's brought back to heaven. Now, he had miracle working powers. actually raised the dead, or
God raised the dead through him. He is one of the prophets that
You remember the Mount of Transfiguration when the Lord was transfigured
and who appeared with him? Moses and Elijah, the law and
the prophets. We're going to look at that again
in a moment. And he is the only man other
than the Lord Jesus that was prophesied in the Old Testament
that came in the New. Turn with me for a moment to
Malachi chapter 3. That's the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 3. When Elijah asked the question,
where is the Lord God of Elijah? He's where he's always been,
on the throne, in absolute control. But we do want to see the same
power, and we do. The same power that is exerted
in Elijah is exerted in every single believer in giving them
life from the dead and giving them grace and revealing the
gospel to them. But I still feel what Elisha
felt when he said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? I want to
see him so much. Now look in Malachi chapter four. Verse five and six, behold, I
will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Look in chapter three of this same book. Behold, I will send
my messenger speaking Elijah, who came with John the Baptist,
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom
you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts." Turn to Isaiah 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Verse three, if I can get there. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord and make
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Now that's what
John the Baptist said, isn't it? Turn with me to Matthew chapter
three. And John the Baptist says this
in every single gospel. Verse three, or verse one, in
those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of
Judea and saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet
Isaiah saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare
ye the way of the Lord and make his paths straight. I'll turn
to Matthew chapter 17. Now this is right after the transfiguration. Now this is when Moses and Elijah
talked to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I love what they were talking
about. Luke 9 31 says, they spake of the deceased, which he should
accomplish. Even in heaven, that's what they
were talking about. Coming back from heaven, this was their one
subject. They spake of the decease, which he should accomplish in
Jerusalem. You see, when the Lord died, he accomplished something. The complete salvation of all
of his elect. The complete putting away of
their sins. The complete establishment of
their righteousness. Their complete salvation. And
because of the decease he accomplished, every believer is complete. in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to think about
that. You lack nothing. You are perfect in Christ Jesus
for this one reason, the decease he accomplished. Now, ought not
that be our subject every time we meet together? which he should accomplish."
And that's what Elijah was talking about, this special man. That's
what Moses talked about. But now look in verse 10 of Matthew
chapter 17. And his disciples asked him saying,
why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? Talking
about Elijah, we just read about it. And Jesus answered and said
unto them, Elias or Elijah truly shall first come and restore
all things. But I say unto you that Elijah is come already and
they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.
They cut off his head. You remember that when he got
his head cut off in Matthew chapter 14, but this is the Elijah that
should come. Now, Israel, At the time of Elijah
coming is in its darkest state. Turn to first Kings chapter 16.
It had never been through such. He's the seventh of seven bad
Kings in Israel, Ahab. And look what it says about Ahab beginning in verse 28. So Omri slept with his fathers
and was buried in Samaria. And Ahab, his son, reigned in
his stead. And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa, king
of Judah, began Ahab, the son of Omri, to reign over Israel.
And Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned over Israel and Samaria twenty
and two years. And Ahab, the son of Omri, did
evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.
And it came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him
to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took
to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbael, the king of the Zidonians,
and went and served Baal and worshiped him. and he reared
up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal where he had built in
Samaria. And Ahab made a grove, and Ahab
did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all
the kings of Israel that were before him." That's including
Jeroboam, whatever king you want to talk about, the most wicked
one. It's the most wicked man yet. And he has brought Baal
worship. which has sexual perversions,
wickedness. They had temple prostitutes,
and this is the kind of stuff that was going on in Israel at
this time. And the Lord raises up this man
by the name of Elijah. No fanfare, no religious backing,
no report of where he went to seminary. At this dark, dark
time, look in verse one of chapter 17, and Elijah the Tishbite. Now, there's secrecy surrounding
this man. We don't know that much about
his upbringing. We know where he was from, but that's it. But
Elijah the Tishbite, who was the inhabitants of Gilead, said
unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I
stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according
to my word. Now, His name means, and what
an affront this was to everybody, his name means Jehovah is my
God. They were all saying Baal's my
God, but he says Jehovah is my God. His name was an exclusion
of everything they believed. Your God is a false God. Your
God is not real. Jehovah is my God. And I love
the way he says this in Elijah verse one, and Elijah the Tishbite,
who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, that's where he's from,
that's all we know about him. He said, and Ahab, the Baal worshiper,
as the Lord God of Israel liveth. I love that. He's the Lord God
of Israel. And he lives, he rules. He reigns. He's the true God. And He's the living God. He's
the God of the Bible, the God of the Scriptures. As the Lord
God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, I'm His servant. I'm
His servant. I'm simply speaking His Word. But look what He says. He says, There shall be no dew,
nor rain these years, but according to my word. It's not gonna rain
till I say it's gonna rain. Now, what a... You think of the misery that
was caused by that. It went three and a half years
without raining. How many people starved to death and died? How
many animals died? How much pain and suffering took
place over him saying, it's not gonna rain, but according to
my word. Turn with me for a moment to
James chapter five. James mentions this. Verse 17, Elias, Elijah was a
man subject to like passions as we are. You know what that
means? He's just like you. He's just
like me. He suffered as a sinner. Only a believer suffers as a
sinner. It doesn't really bother an unbeliever,
but a believer suffers as a sinner. And that's what he's talking
about, these like passions. And passions are a bad thing.
The same sinful passions that your old nature has, he had to
deal with just as much. We don't usually think of these
Old Testament characters that way, do we? We think of them
as not having the same problems we do. But James tells us plainly,
he had the same like passions as us. Whatever it is that you're
having trouble with, he did too. He did too. And he prayed earnestly that
it might not rain, And it rained not on the earth by the space
of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the
heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Now, why did he pray such a prayer
as this? Well, turn to Deuteronomy chapter
11. I want you to see this, Deuteronomy chapter 11. Verse 16, and I have no doubt that Elijah
read this. Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived
and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.
And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you. And he shut
up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield
not her fruit, unless you perish quickly from off the good land
which the Lord God giveth you. Now, I have no doubt that Elijah
read this. And Elijah was consumed with
a zeal for the glory of Jehovah, the glory of God. And somebody
thinks, well, was he cruel? Was he merciless in praying this
prayer? No. No. You see, he was on the
Lord's side. Does that mean he was disinterested
about the welfare of men? Of course not. Wouldn't you love
to see, if it's the Lord's will, wouldn't you love to see everybody
in Lexington, Kentucky saved and believe the gospel and walk
with the Lord Jesus Christ? Wouldn't you? Of course you would.
Of course you would. But not at the expense of the
truth. Not at the expense of God's character, not at the expense
of the gospel. And Elijah was consumed with
his zeal for the Lord. He was so grieved seeing this
Baal worship. It just broke his heart. And
he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. hoping the Lord would
use this to bring the children of Israel to repentance and forsake
Baal worship and worship the Lord God. That's why he was doing
this. So somebody thinks, well, he
was being cruel. I mean, actually making it to where people have
to suffer. He was consumed with a zeal for
the glory of the Lord. And that is precisely why he
was doing this. And I want you to try to put
yourself In Ahab's place, it's not gonna, he looks at Ahab and
says, it's not gonna rain for these years, but according to
my word. Now, Ahab, look in chapter 18,
verse 17, when he finally shows himself. And it came to pass when Ahab
saw Elijah that Ahab said unto him, art thou he that troubleth
Israel? That's how he called, that's how he viewed him, as
the one who's bringing trouble on Israel. And he answered, I've
not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, and that
you forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou has followed
Balaam. Now Ahab was the one who had
brought all this on. Now look in verse two, chapter
17, and the word of the Lord came unto him. saying, get thee
hence and turn thee eastward and hide thyself by the brook
Cherith that is before Jordan. And it should be that thou shalt
drink of the brook and I've commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
Now here's one of those glorious miracles. There's one brook left,
maybe there's more, but this one still has water. And he says,
you go hide yourself there. Now, obviously, he's going to
be a hated man. They're going to blame him for
what's taking place. And Ahab wanted to kill him.
I mean, Jezebel wanted to kill him. And he's going to be a hated
man, so the Lord says, you go hide yourself. And yes, he hid
himself, but you know what else that meant? They weren't going
to have any prophetic word. They were not going to have a
word from the Lord. And I think of that scripture that I'm going
to send a famine, not of bread, but of hearing the words of the
Lord. What a famine, a scary famine. That is, I think one of the scariest
scriptures in the Bible is when it says, and Jesus departed and
did hide himself from them. Oh, I don't want that to happen.
I want him to make himself known to me and him to make himself
known to you. But at any rate, he's hidden
and the ravens feed him. Now, verse four. And it shall
be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I've commanded the
ravens to feed thee there. And so he went and did according
to the word of the Lord, for he went and dwelt by the brook
Jireth, that is before Jordan, and the ravens, brought him bread
and flesh in the morning. Now remember, ravens are vultures. They're carnivorous, and yet
they miraculously are kept from eating this food, and they bring
it to Elijah, and he eats from these ravens. Can you imagine
ravens handling your food and then it being brought to him?
But he was grateful and he ate this food. The ravens brought
him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening
and he drank of the brook and it came to pass after a while.
Now everybody I read said that means a year, a year. He stayed there for an entire
year in solitude, in solitude. Now I want you to imagine that.
waiting for the ravens to come every morning, the ravens to
come every night, kind of put on a shelf, as it were. He is
by himself. And remember, he's a man subject
to like passions as us, and he's actually a man subject to depression.
Let me show you that in 1 Kings 19. Now, this is after Mount Carmel. where
the people said, the Lord, He is God, after that great, one
of my favorite stories in 1 Kings 18, where He meets the 850 false
prophets and He kills them afterwards. He kills them. He slays them
all. He doesn't let one escape. And that's where he said, if
the Lord be God, serve him. If Baal be God, serve him. And
the fire coming down from heaven and consuming the sacrifice is
just a glorious story. And I guess he thought, after
this, surely there's going to be a revival. Surely there's
going to be a great turning back to God. But look what happened. Chapter 19. And they had told
Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and with all how he had slain
all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger
unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also,
if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow
about this time. And when he saw that, he arose
and went for his life and came to Beersheba which belonged to
Judah and left his servant there. And who knows what all was going
through his mind at this time. Things did not take place as
I thought they would. And what's going on? Look in
verse four. But he himself went a day's journey
into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper
tree for he requested for himself that he might die. I don't want
to live anymore. It's not happened as I thought.
And he actually requested that he might die. He was so depressed. Can a believer get that way?
Sure they can. Sure they can. He did. He actually requested
to die. Look what he said. He said, oh
Lord, take away my life for I'm not better than my father's.
I'm no different than them. He had the same passions of us. and suffered the same things
as a sinner. And he is just so distraught
at this time. And he says, take my life. Back to 1 Kings 17. And it came to pass that after
a while, the brook dried up. You know there's a lot in that
statement. After a while, the brook dried
up. You know, your brook's gonna
dry up. My brook's gonna dry up. And the Lord has purpose
in it all. He's in control. Whatever he
does is right. Whatever he does is just. Whatever
he does is good. And the fact that my brook is
gonna dry up and your brook is gonna dry up is to teach us to
rely wholly on the Lord. That is his purpose. and the
Lord always has something else. Let me repeat that. The Lord
always has something else. This is what we're going to be
considering next week. And the word of the Lord after
that brook had dried up and he, how long did he stay there after
it dried up? I don't know. But look in verse 18, and the
word of the Lord came unto him again. It came unto him saying,
Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and
dwell there. Behold, I have commanded." I love that. I have commanded
a widow woman to sustain thee there. The Lord was in complete
control of this brook drying up, and he had already commanded
a widow woman to there sustain the prophet, and that's what
we're going to consider next week. Now, was Elijah filled
with fear when he saw this brook dry up? He may have been. Maybe not. I don't know. But
the Word of the Lord did come to him. And he did go where the
Lord told him to go. And he had that widow woman sustaining
him. And you remember that story,
how she had just a barrel, a cruise of oil, and a small amount of
meal in a barrel. And the Lord caused that to continue
for another two years, feeding the prophet. We've just had just
enough for every day. just enough for every day. Now,
I would have rather had a big storehouse so I could feel confident. You would too, but that's not
what he gave him. He gave him just enough for every
day. May the Lord put us right there
with him. Isn't he an interesting character?
Elijah. that special man of God. And
I love what Elisha said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? That's
what we want to see in our day, isn't it? Amen.